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Former Boynton commissioner wants lobbying fine dropped

BOYNTON BEACH — Former City Commissioner David Katz wants his lobbying fine dropped, saying his only official accuser was then-Mayor José Rodriguez, whom Katz said has been disgraced in a court of law.

The city commission will mull the request at Tuesday’s regular meeting.

In October 2011, then-interim City Manager Lori LaVerriere ruled Katz had lobbied without properly registering, and slapped him with a $750 fine.

Katz has loudly refused to pay his fine or appeal it. The city later turned enforcement of such rules to Palm Beach County’s Commission on Ethics. City Attorney James Cherof had proposed the action, saying city ordinances are vague.

In fining Katz, LaVerriere had said “factual allegations” in a July 2009 police report, if true, “supported a conclusion” that Katz lobbied.
Craig Goldstein of West Way Towing had told authorities that Katz, a city commissioner from 1993 to 1995, took $12,000 from him and $500 from a competitor for a city contract. Goldstein said Katz told him people should go through Katz “if you want something done in Boynton Beach.”

Katz had insisted that the money was for consulting, not lobbying, and that he returned $11,500. In June, the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office closed that case.

LaVerriere said in her October 2011 memo that she had asked Katz if he was paid to lobby for the tow firms. She said Katz did not respond but instead sent letters from four of the five people on the commission at the time, saying he had not lobbied them about tow firms from 2007 to 2009.

LaVerriere said she then asked the five herself. Four — Jerry Taylor, Ron Weiland, Woodrow Hay and Marlene Ross — again confirmed Katz hadn’t lobbied them.

Not Rodriguez.

“Lori, the short answer to your question about being lobbied by Mr. Katz on the towing contract, I believe, is yes,” he wrote. He said he believed Katz lobbied him three separate times.

In letter dated April 30 of this year, Katz challenged Rodriguez’s statement and said it “was the sole basis for your determination.”

In his letter for Tuesday’s meeting, Katz did concede that Ross later admitted to Palm Beach County State Attorney’s investigators that she lied when she signed that letter. That admission led to one of two charges Ross now faces before the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics.

Ross resigned in December, the same day the commission handed down that citation and one linked to her admission that she appointed Katz to a city committee against her judgment.

Ross said she feared that Katz was blackmailing her because she believed he knew about nude photographs Ross had sent to her cousin, with whom she was having a romantic relationship. Investigators eventually concluded that they didn’t have enough to prove a crime was committed.

Rodriguez, did not respond to an e-mail request for comment. Katz did not return a call.

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